The Forum for Middle East Understanding claims “to educate the public concerning the issues of the Middle East including culture, religion, politics and Terrorism.” Walid Shoebat is the main face of FFMU.
The group’s web site includes headlines such as, “The Muslims Will Invade The Vatican, And Try to Destroy The Roman Catholic Church” and “Demons Have Possessed Muslims And They Are Doing Horrific And Cruel Massacres.” Both articles are authored by Walid and Theodore Shoebat.
In 2011, CNN researchers “found no evidence” to support Shoebat’s trademark claim of being a “former PLO terrorist.”
In separate video interviews, Shoebat’s contradicts himself regarding major details of his unsubstantiated claim that he attacked a bank in Bethlehem. In one interview he says he threw a bomb at a bank, in another he says he saw some children and did not throw the bomb. He also says he was never caught for throwing the bomb, but in another interview he claims he was arrested and served time for throwing the bomb.
Shoebat once told a Missouri newspaper that he sees “many parallels between the Antichrist and Islam” and that “Islam is not the religion of God — Islam is the devil.” (Springfield News-Leader, 9/24/07)
Researcher Thom Cincotta found, “In dozens of YouTube videos, Shoebat suggests Islam is the fake religion of the ‘anti-Christ’ and implies that Muslims bear the “Mark of the Beast.” He denounces Islam and Muslims as inherently violent and savage, recounting an endless litany of (non-terrorist) violent acts committed by individuals in a manner that suggests an irredeemably violent culture.”
Cincotta also quotes Shoebat saying, “The Muslim beheads with a smile. You can see it on YouTube, on TV; the Afghan child trained to execute Christians. Mom holds the head and dad holds the leg and the ten year old hacks the person being decapitated while smiling. The worst torture is supposed to be in Yemen and Saudi [Arabia].’ ‘You say that Islam is a peaceful religion? Why? It hates the West. It hates Israel.”
Shoebat held in October 2014 that the “30-year Muslim plan to control America has six years to go.” He also claims that moderate Islam is an illusion “to gain interests through a much deeper level of deception while simultaneously lowering the guard and gaining the support of the infidels.”
During a radio interview with G. Gordon Liddy, when discussing links between Barack Obama and Islam, Shoebat stated that “…it is very clear that Barack Hussein Obama is definitely a Muslim.”